Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

At this time, Jin Zhong, the right minister of the Ministry of Industry, among the "Two Golds" asked: "Does the Imperial Master think that if the currency system is modified, what impact will it have on the Ming Dynasty?"

Although Zhu Di and Zhu Gaochi temporarily retreated behind the scenes in the name of taking a break and retreating to reflect on their past, their shadows were everywhere at the meeting.

Jin Zhong asked for the emperor.

They don't have to care about agriculture and industry, but they have to care about money, especially shiny treasures.

Therefore, they would not let Jiang Xinghuo be vague about many key issues, but would ask them to get to the bottom of what they didn't understand.

Although Jin Zhong is just the right minister of the Ministry of Industry, and his official position is not the highest among everyone present, he is a close confidant of the emperor and the second-ranking adviser of the Yan army. He is the kind who goes to the battlefield with Zhu Di to make suggestions. He was trusted by Zhu Di. Moreover, Huang Fu, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, is still stranded in the Chief Envoy of Jiaozhi with Chen Qia, the Minister of Dali Temple. He may not be able to come back until the Chinese New Year. In fact, the Ministry of Industry is not composed of Zuo Shilang, a direct descendant of Zhu Gaochi. The one controlled by Chen Shou was Jin Zhong, the right servant.

The Ministry of Industry happened to be a department that cooperated more with Jiang Xinghuo, so Jiang Xinghuo had to answer patiently.

"Once currency reform is initiated, it will cause short-term price deflation and economic recession."

The terms inflation and deflation are familiar to the officials present.

Because these basic economic concepts were taught in the rotating training class of the Ming Dynasty Administrative School. The content of the rotating training class mainly included Xunzi’s thoughts of the Holy King, the concept of the nation-state, etc. But in addition, there are also topics about administration. Basic teaching of science and economics.

Jiang Xinghuo has trained the teachers in these administrative schools well. Although he is not as good as Jiang Xinghuo, at least he teaches according to the textbooks and there is no problem.

As for how much these central civil servants of the Ming Dynasty who come for training can listen, and how much learning effect they have, it depends on each person.

But their understanding of economics is probably limited to some basic concepts. As for something a little more flexible, it would be difficult.

"Why?" Jin Zhong asked again.

Jiang Xinghuo chuckled and continued to explain patiently: "Currency reform requires that the actual currency value of treasure banknotes must be restored to at least half of the paper currency value. It is still far from enough. Even by reducing the issuance of treasure banknotes, issuing national bonds, and collecting banknotes, it is still far from enough." Zhongyan, as well as the future addition of the savings function of the 'bank-money' system, will form a reservoir. These methods of recovering currency will probably take two to three years at the fastest to complete the recovery of the currency value of the treasure banknotes."

Seeing that no one responded, Jiang Xinghuo simply pointed it out.

"But at the same time, with the development of the economy, the supply of copper coins in the Ming Dynasty was insufficient, and the private demand for treasure banknotes will definitely increase. In addition to the internal currency demand, before the dual-track system of domestic and foreign currencies was implemented, overseas trade was booming. It will also increase the demand for treasure banknotes, because treasure banknotes are equivalent to playing the role of 'international currency'."

There was no problem with the understanding of the senior officials present. Jiang Xinghuo clearly explained both sides of supply and demand. After thinking about it for a while, they all suddenly came back to their senses. However, many people still did not understand it thoroughly.

At this time, Zheng Ci, the Minister of Punishment, personally asked: "Can the value of the currency not be restored to half? Then there will still be enough circulating treasure banknotes on the market, and the economic development will not stagnate."

Jiang Xinghuo shook his head and said: "The better the currency value recovers, the less resistance there will be to changing banknotes."

"What if we don't change the currency?"

"If the currency is not changed, as the scale of Ming's overseas trade expands, if it expands to the far west, even lands that the Mongols have never arrived and conquered by land, then the gold, silver, and copper that are very scarce for Ming will When precious metals arrive, they will become extremely abundant, which in turn will impact the value of the banknotes. Precious metals naturally have monetary properties, which are difficult to change artificially. To prepare for a rainy day, the best strategy now is to silver the banknotes in advance. , otherwise, once the circulation scope and volume of Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes become larger and larger over time, the difficulty of changing banknotes in the future will not be the same. At that time, it will not only shake the basic financial structure of Ming Dynasty, but also lead to The difficulty has increased several times, even more than ten times. Do you think it is better to have long-term pain than short-term pain, or to endure the pain all the time?"

After hearing Jiang Xinghuo's words, the room in the cabinet room suddenly became silent.

There are mountains of gold and silver in Japan. This is no secret to the senior officials of the empire.

According to what the National Master said, in addition to Japan, there are probably more places in the far west.

As long as gold, silver, and copper appear in large quantities and enter the trade system, they will definitely become the treasure banknote system inherent in currency impact. This is undoubtedly a matter. After all, they are all recognized hard currencies in the world, and treasure banknotes are said to be It is the paper that carries the Ming Dynasty's credit. For a person from an indigenous tribe, choosing between real money and a piece of paper is a matter of course without even thinking about it.

So it seems that the monetary system should be changed sooner rather than later.

Seeing that everyone had no objections, Jiang Xinghuo continued.

"trading."

"Domestic trade must be based on reviving domestic trade, cultivating a complete domestic commodity sales and flow system, overcoming the difficulties of establishing an overall commodity market throughout the Ming Dynasty, accelerating the construction of infrastructure systems including canals and official roads, and Promote the establishment of 'point-to-point trade routes' between major economically developed cities in an appropriate manner, speed up the elimination of remaining banditry in difficult-to-reach places, and improve road safety capabilities."

This time it was Xu Siwen's turn, former deputy envoy to Peiping and current left minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, to ask questions. As a direct descendant of Zhu Gaochi, he was very interested in many of Jiang Xinghuo's actions, especially those that had not yet been carried out.

“What does peer-to-peer business mean?”

Jiang Xinghuo glanced around the people present and said slowly: "Everyone knows that Ming Dynasty's domestic commerce is extremely underdeveloped. The most important obstacle is road traffic. Road traffic has two aspects. One is The second reason for the remaining local banditry is the de facto duplication of commercial taxes. The so-called "point-to-point trade routes" are to first open up safe and non-duplicate trade routes between cities with highly developed economies and real trade needs. The first and last two times are used to recover the cost of road construction and safety maintenance.”

In fact, the domestic trade system of the Ming Dynasty has been completely destroyed by various reasons. From a fundamental point of view, it is because the Battle of Jingnan was a civil war involving millions of troops, which directly led to a large number of people. After escaping, the stragglers turned into bandits and road bullies on the spot. The banditry in this kind of place is simply impossible to suppress. What can you do if people run away into the mountains and lakes?

Road safety cannot be guaranteed, coupled with the high prices of raw materials and taxes, resulting in a large backlog of materials, which in turn has caused extremely poor liquidity in the domestic market.

If you want to engage in domestic trade, you need to build roads, set up warehouses at certain distances, and clear out banditry along the way. Soldiers patrol along the way to ensure safety, otherwise merchants will not dare to go on the road.

And building roads requires money. Even if the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has money now, it is difficult to carry out large-scale infrastructure construction at once. We can only pick up important trade routes in the traditional sense and build them first, which is equivalent to opening up the roads first. Although a few major arteries and the remaining blood vessels are also important, we can only wait until we are able to do so.

For more than a year, Zhu Di was busy consolidating the throne, exterminating the remnants of Jianwen, and using troops against Annan. He had not yet had time to devote his energy to eradicating the bandits.

Now that the rule in the south is basically stable, the gentry class has been suppressed, and the economy has recovered, it is now capable of carrying out such a less intense but larger-scale military operation.

"But..." An official hesitated to speak.

Jiang Xinghuo took a look and saw that it was Sun Yu, the former Chief Secretary of Peking, Zuo Counselor, a direct descendant of Zhu Gaochi, and now the left minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

This Sun Yu can be said to be one of the rare people under Zhu Gaochi who understands economics and finance, and he is also a nail in the household department. He holds the high position of Zuo Shilang. He may not show off at ordinary times, but once the critical moment comes, he will be ready at any time. It can restrain Xia Yuanji.

"If you have any concerns, just say them directly!"

It’s not that no one here wants to bring out Lao Zhu’s national policy of “emphasis on agriculture and suppression of business”, but now that Jiang Xinghuo has completed the 2.1 million taels of silver bet half a year ahead of schedule, sooner or later this “emphasis on agriculture and suppression of business” will change. Going back to the Northern Song Dynasty's "all four peoples are based", although the four peoples also have a ranking of scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, they are still on the same level in name.

And now that the world is gradually settling down and facing changes, the economy has been put first, and everything is in vain if there is no money.

Since we can't dig out a few coins from the soil, we have to focus on commercial taxes.

Sun Yu said: "Nowadays, the government has a lot of expenditures. If we want to build roads between major cities and send troops to suppress bandits, I am afraid that the money spent will not be able to support it."

Jiang Xinghuo nodded slightly and said, "There is a saying here that if you want to be rich, build roads first."

"Building roads will allow goods to circulate, allow people to use specialties from different places, and allow the country to collect more commercial taxes. However, at the same time, we also have to bear the expenses of building roads and maintaining public security along the way. We cannot just let the people use them. The principle of horses running and not letting horses eat grass. Everything is difficult at the beginning. We must bear this expenditure. But now the domestic situation in Ming Dynasty is stable. Although the national treasury reserves are not rich enough, there is no need for large-scale road construction. Just spread out the stalls and come one road at a time."

Jiang Xinghuo's face remained calm, but deep in his eyes, there was perseverance and expectation.

Some time ago, he did fall into anxiety and internal conflict for a while, but he soon came out of it.

Because he has an unrivaled advantage: time is on his side.

His body is still young enough and can still struggle for twenty or thirty years, or even forty or fifty years. Who knows what Daming will be like in the future? There is no need to worry about any temporary disadvantages or things that are not as good as you want. There is no need to be impatient. Take your time, do your best, and leave the rest to time.

Not to mention Zhu Di, even Zhu Gaochi, in terms of lifespan alone, Jiang Xinghuo felt that he could easily die.

What's more, in just over a year, he has already made such achievements and progress.

In fact, this annual work report of the President's Reform Affairs Office was a bit scary not only to others, but even when Jiang Xinghuo read it to himself, at a certain moment, he was a little embarrassed and in disbelief.

Unknowingly, when I looked back, I had already come such a long way.

And the way forward is not unclear. Everything that needs to be done and the estimated time for completion have been mapped out.

Everything is moving towards a bright future.

Jiang Xinghuo turned to the next page of the manuscript and continued reading.

At the same time, he twisted it with his fingers. Just like the memory in his mind, there were not many pages left.

"Overseas trade, the Ming Dynasty has established equal and mutually beneficial free trade relations with Annan, Champa, Japan, Korea, Luzon, Ryukyu and other countries, and has initially established an overseas trade commodity insurance system to help overseas trade. Traders can trade with confidence, and the scene of "opening up the sea and making the country prosperous" in the Northern Song Dynasty has been reproduced; in terms of import and export management, Guangzhou's "Huaiyuan City Ship Division", Quanzhou's "Laiyuan City Ship Division", and Ningbo's "Anyuan Ship Division" have been restarted. Secretary', basically restoring the city shipping department system since the two Song Dynasties."

Here Jiang Xinghuo refers to the Shenfa Temple that Jin Youzi was responsible for. Based on the "Yuanfeng City Shipping Department Regulations" introduced during the Yuanfeng period of Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty, the "Yongle City Shipping Department Regulations" were revised to stipulate the city's shipping trade in the form of law. The legal status of the Municipal Shipping Department and the specific responsibilities of the Municipal Shipping Department.

"For foreign missions, the Municipal Shipping Department is in charge of receiving tribute envoys and their attachés from various countries, and the ministers are ordered to supervise the role of the Municipal Shipping Department in sea permission, maritime inspection, and collection of customs duties. The next stage of overseas trade will focus on Promote the abolition of the 'Sea Relocation Order' and the relocation of coastal residents, as well as the establishment of embassies in countries that have established free trade relations."

What I want to say here is that although the Ming Dynasty now only has three city shipping companies, which are far inferior to the four major city shipping companies and nine small city shipping companies in the Northern Song Dynasty, they basically have everything they should have. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Mizhou City Shipping Department There are four major shipping companies: Liangzhe Road City Shipping Company, Fujian Road City Shipping Company, and Guangnan Road City Shipping Company. There are nine small shipping companies below them. However, the scale of Mizhou City Shipping Company in Shandong is not large, and the small city shipping department Among the shipping companies, Quanzhou City Shipping Company, Guangzhou City Shipping Company and Ningbo City Shipping Company are the most famous. These three are collectively called the "Three Road Shipping Company". That is to say, the three main shipping companies that have been restarted in Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, although there are not as many as the nine shipping companies in the Northern Song Dynasty, the three most important ones can be regarded as restarted.

In fact, although China has a very long coastline and many coastal cities, in terms of routes, there are actually only two.

One route is the northern route, which is the Northeast Asia route in later generations. In the Ming Dynasty, it mainly started from Dengzhou on the Shandong Peninsula, followed the coastline of the Bohai Sea in a clockwise direction to the Liaodong Peninsula and the Korean Peninsula, and finally arrived at the Japanese Archipelago, that is Routes to tomorrow’s demilitarized free trade zone.

If you start from Japan, you can also go south to the Ryukyu Islands, all the way to Luzon Island and even Java Island. If you trace the origin of this line, it actually started in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The Qi State was the main beneficiary. In Jiang Xinghuo’s previous life Also known as the "Eastern Maritime Silk Road".

As time went by, in fact, after the Tang Dynasty, the main trading place with Japan was Ningbo. This is also the reason why Ningbo Shipping Company emerged. The geographical location is really important.

The second route is the southern route. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the local separatist forces in the south relied on this route to establish their country. It was called the "Guangzhou Tonghai Yi Road".

Apart from these two routes, China's only foreign trade was the overland Silk Road and the Ancient Tea Horse Road.

In any case, the two national policies of focusing on agriculture and suppressing commerce and prohibiting maritime trade will definitely be abolished by the middle of next year, when the bet is officially settled.

By the middle of the second year of Yongle, the national policy will become "funding all the people" plus "opening up the sea and enriching the country."

With only the last two pages left in his hand, Jiang Xinghuo's reading speed also slowed down.

"Specialty merchandise."

"Specialized commodities are an important part of the Ming Dynasty's economic system and the cornerstone of national tax stability. In today's context of rapid technological changes and highly developed commodity diversity, Ming Dynasty must ensure that it has inherent specialized commodities, such as salt, tea, iron, etc. Stable sales of goods must also pay attention to the development of new specialty goods such as glass and fertilizers. With the emergence of a new round of "technological explosion", low-phosphorus steel, perfume and other goods under development will also become a source of financial resources for the national treasury. It is an important part of generating income, thereby promoting the growth of the entire Ming Dynasty economy.”

An additional thing to mention here is why perfume, one of the income-generating artifacts for time travellers, was so slow to be introduced by Jiang Xinghuo.

In fact, Jiang Xinghuo only knew that there was rouge gouache in ancient times, but he really didn't know if there was perfume in ancient times, and if so, what the perfume looked like.

But later, as he gradually understood it, he roughly understood that there is indeed such a thing, and there is perfume distillation technology, but it is not a local product. It was introduced to China from the Middle East during the Five Dynasties period. The first variety was called "Gu La Shui". It is a kind of perfume distilled from rose flowers, which can even be eaten. In short, people in the Song Dynasty have successfully mastered the preparation method of this kind of perfume, and developed a variety of floral dews such as citrus, osmanthus, and jasmine, and also used them. It's made and fragrant.

This traditional method of making perfume mainly involves selecting plants with strong aromas such as roses, jasmine, and orange blossoms, and then distilling the petals and leaves, that is, throwing them into a jar to heat them, and then collecting the steam and then cooling it.

In addition to plant perfumes, ancient people also made animal perfumes, such as "musk", the secretion of musk deer, and "ambergris", the secretion of sperm whales.

But there are still two key technological points and one time point behind these things compared to modern perfumes.

The reason why Jiang Xinghuo has not come up with a modern perfume is not because the technical principles of modern perfume are complex, but because of these two pre-technical points and a point in time.

One technological point is high-purity alcohol, because the essence of modern perfume is to mix a certain proportion of plant essential oils with a certain proportion of alcohol and purified water. This ratio is generally less than 30% of plant essential oils, 10 % high-purity alcohol, plus more than 60% water. If the proportion of plant essential oils is added too much, the smell will be stronger, and if the proportion is added less, the smell will be lighter.

Another technological point is the glass bottle, because the smell of perfume is easy to evaporate. In order to maintain the quality of perfume, the ancients kept it in a ceramic bottle and placed it in a cool and dry place. It was only taken out when using it. Even so, it is very easy. Dispersed odor, while glass bottles avoid this problem.

After solving these two technological points, it is the most critical time point.

That requires a cold enough winter.

The principle is also simple. The most critical plant essential oil liquid in perfume needs to be distilled, stirred, mixed and left for a period of time to allow the impurities in the essence to fully precipitate, but it will still be turbid, especially when the weather is hotter and turbider, and vice versa when it is cold, so it is good. Perfume must be made when the weather is cold when the ancient workshops do not have sufficient cooling conditions. In addition to precipitation, it is filtered, because perfume will become translucent or mist when it encounters lower temperatures. It was even worse in ancient times. If it was not cold enough when filtering, no matter how you heated it in the future, even if you used coking coal to heat it, the perfume would be burned and evaporated, and the thing would not be clarified, but would always be turbid. state, so the perfume must be filtered in cold conditions.

As for aging, it is a very simple matter. Jiang Xinghuo cannot do chemical aging, but the physical method. Well, it is actually a "physical method" in the literal sense. Just ask people to stir it with a stick. This process takes about three days. About a month.

Therefore, under the premise that everything is ready, and under Jiang Xinghuo's guidance, the workshop must be able to produce finished perfume next year.

As for whether it will receive the same recognition as glass cosmetic mirrors after it is launched on the market, I don’t know.

But if Singularity’s time-travel novels are not deceptive, they can probably make a lot of money.

Money is not very meaningful to Jiang Xinghuo himself, but it is very meaningful to him to carry out reforms.

Listening to Jiang Xinghuo's words of "going from one victory to another", everyone had different expressions.

But although some of them are unwilling to believe it so quickly, no matter who they are, they also know very well that since Jiang Xinghuo can talk about these things, then this so-called "low phosphorus steel" and "perfume" are probably It will be really profitable.

Jiang Xinghuo finally turned to the last page.

Looking at the thin piece of white paper in front of him, Jiang Xinghuo fell into deep thought.

——Endless scenery on dangerous peaks.

The road to climb dangerous peaks is always difficult.

Wang Anshi said that as long as you try your best, you will have no regrets, but if you try your best and still fail, you will probably have some regrets.

For the general direction of the economy, what is the most dangerous peak?

Taxes of course!

And what is the peak of the tax peak?

Collect taxes to the grassroots!

There is a huge stone called "Imperial power does not go to the countryside". Throughout the ages, many heroes and great reformers who have intended to reach the top have either flinched or been hit on the head when faced with this big stone. Broken with blood and even broken into pieces, he fell to the bottom of the cliff and died without a burial place.

But even though he knew it was difficult to do, Jiang Xinghuo still chose to do it without hesitation, and now that the conditions were met, he would do it next year.

"tax."

These two words came out of Jiang Xinghuo's mouth, ringing in everyone's ears like beating drums.

"Taxation is an important part of Ming Dynasty's self-development. After the initial completion of the nationwide taxation system in the first year, the reform of the accounting system and the establishment of the local tax system will become the main direction of the next tax reform and promote the taxation of Ming Dynasty. The system is transforming towards standardization and two-polarization. In terms of accounting systems, in the future, we will vigorously promote the popularization of new accounting methods based on the 'four-legged account' as the standard, and use technical means to increase the difficulty of fraud and prevent the recurrence of large-scale corruption cases; In terms of the local tax system, in the future, a separate local tax system will be established for administrative units at all levels such as the chief minister, prefecture, (prefecture), and county, with the household registration progressive tax and the split notary tax as the main tax sources to reduce the central financial burden. Change the tax allocation model of the 'big housekeeper' of the Ministry of Household Affairs, which oversees every detail, and increase local autonomy and enthusiasm."

The four-legged account is not complicated to learn, so it has been implemented in various departments of the central government.

Mainly because of the Ministry of Punishment's issue regarding the right to purchase paper some time ago. This matter caused a lot of trouble. A group of officials from the Ministry of Punishment were implicated. In addition, coupled with the shocking case of the Lianghuai Salt Envoy Department, The consequences of spending so much salt tax are all before everyone, so no one dares to say anything when we start promoting it now.

After all, if you really want to go against the emperor for this matter, this accounting system matter, it is really unnecessary.

Anyone who speaks out will easily be labeled as "are you afraid of being found out?"

Therefore, it is still very easy to promote the four-legged account.

As for the so-called central and local secondary tax system, this thing has been warmed up for a long time. At present, the tax power given to local governments is not large, mainly in the two tax categories of progressive household registration tax and family separation notary tax.

To put it bluntly, they are all taxes levied on the gentry.

From the perspective of the local officials, they also knew that this was a conspiracy to encourage them to fight with the local gentry.

But there is no way!

In the past, they did not dare to touch the gentry because they needed the help of the local gentry in all aspects. After all, local officials were all wandering officials. Without the cooperation of local forces, they could easily become mere commanders. But it is different now. As long as money is involved, , then it’s hard to say many things.

Maybe it won't offend people too much, but no matter what, the skin of the gentry has to be peeled off. The only difference is whether it can be negotiated how much.

Of course, if it is just local tax, it is not enough, because it is no exaggeration to say that the Ming Dynasty's tax system is full of holes. If you want to return to normal, you must use more powerful means. However, if you want to reach out in the short term, Going to the countryside is very difficult and requires a lot of financial, manpower and material resources. It also requires a strict and well-planned plan to implement it, which is not easy.

But Jiang Xinghuo was obviously well prepared for this. These were the things he had discussed with Zhu Yong before.

Since the establishment of the Tax Guard, he has been preparing for a year.

Tens of thousands of disabled veterans have been trained.

These old soldiers can read, count, and have enough patriotic sentiments. Jiang Xinghuo believes that these people can definitely complete the tax collection work satisfactorily. After all, for them, the medals on their bodies are not deceiving.

"At the same time, efforts will be made to promote the tax collectors to go to the countryside, deeply integrate the tax collectors and taxation, and change the traditional "imperial power does not go to the countryside" model through tax collectors rooted in villages and towns, and promote the true establishment of the local tax system and the efficient collection of national taxes. , to promote fairer and more equitable taxation through old people’s literacy, arithmetic and accounting.”